Company is the worlds largest diversified resources group. It has seven divisions: Petroleum, Aluminium, Base Metals, Carbon Steel materials, Diamonds and speciality products, Energy coal and Stainless steel materials.

            Red = 25 day moving average.           Green = 200 day moving average.

SALES PER ACTIVITY (Data as of 30/06/2006)

Carbon steel:   28%
Oil:                18%
Aluminum:       15%
Basic metals:   15%
Coal:               9%
Stainless steel: 9%
:                    3%
Diamonds,
minerals, etc:   3%

StockMarketWire.com
BHP Billiton swung into the black in the year to the end of June with an attributable profit of $5.9bn against a loss of $6.4bn last time and announced plans to sell its onshore US assets.

Underlying EBITDA rose by 64% to $20.3bn with an underlying return on capital employed of 10% (after tax) for the 2017 financial year.

Other highlights:
- Productivity gains(iv) of US$1.3 billion achieved for the period, with more than US$12 billion accumulated over the last five years. The group said it expected to deliver a further US$2 billion by the end of the 2019 financial year, with gains weighted to the second year.

- Net operating cash flow of US$16.8 billion and free cash flow of US$12.6 billion were underpinned by higher commodity prices, strong operating performance and improved capital productivity.

-Capital and exploration expenditure reduced by 32% to $5.2 billion, as it focused on capital efficient latent capacity projects and exercised flexibility in our Onshore US plans. It said capital and exploration expenditure was expected to increase to US$6.9 billion in the 2018 financial year as it focus on its suite of low-risk, high-return latent capacity projects, progress Mad Dog Phase 2 and the Spence Growth Option and ramp-up drilling activity in Onshore US.

- Capital and exploration expenditure expected to remain below US$8 billion per annum for the 2019 and 2020 financial years.

- Strengthened our balance sheet, with net debt of US$16.3 billion reflecting strong free cash flow generation and a favourable non-cash movement in net debt of US$0.6 billion.

- The Board has determined to pay a final dividend of 43 US cents per share which is covered by free cash flow generated in the current period. Total dividends of US$4.4 billion determined for the 2017 financial year include US$1.1 billion in additional amounts over and above the 50% minimum payout policy.

Chairman, Jac Nasser said: "Over the last five years, we have laid the foundations to significantly improve our return on capital and grow long-term shareholder value.

"We have reduced unit costs by over 40 per cent and achieved over US$12 billion in productivity gains. Our capital allocation framework provides flexibility at the bottom of the cycle and discipline at the top.

"We have shifted our focus to low-cost, high-return latent capacity projects which has allowed us to reduce capital expenditure by over 70 per cent.

"We strengthened our balance sheet and changed our dividend policy to make sure we have stability and flexibility to create value and reward shareholders in a more volatile environment.

"And we have reshaped our portfolio so that we focus on large, long-life, low-cost assets that will support shareholder returns for decades to come.

"At the end of this month, I leave my role as Chairman knowing these strong foundations, proven strategy and core values position BHP well for the future."

StockMarketWire.com
BHP Billiton has maintained all production and unit cost guidance for the 2018 financial year.

It said good progress had been made on its latent capacity projects, with first production from the Los Colorados extension project and the Olympic Dam southern mining area achieved in the September quarter and the Caval Ridge southern circuit project progressing to plan.

It said all major projects under development were tracking to plan.

An operation review for the quarter said: 'In Onshore US, our operated rig count increased from five to nine during the September 2017 quarter.

'Divestment of a small portion of the Hawkville acreage was completed during the quarter, with work underway to exit our remaining Onshore US assets for value.

'In Petroleum exploration, evaluation of the positive drilling results from Wildling-2 is continuing, with a sidetrack also encountering oil in multiple horizons which will assist with establishing the scale of the discovery.'

StockMarketWire.com
BHP said it expects to recognise an income tax expense of US$1.8bn following the lowering of US Federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% as well as other measures introduced by the recently enacted US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

The company said that the tax expense will be treated as an exceptional item and would include two main components: a non-cash re-measurement of deferred taxes as a result of the reduction in the US Federal corporate income tax rate of US$898m and a non-cash impairment of foreign tax credits due to reduced forecast utilisation of US$834m.

Over the longer term, however, the company said that US tax reform will have a positive impact on US attributable profits mainly due to the lower corporate tax rate.